Martial World

Marvel Blue Imperial Palace was extremely broad within; there were over 108,000 houses in it. Many imperial palace layouts were similar to those of mortal imperial palaces.

At the front of the Imperial Palace were the formal halls. There was the Heaven and Earth Hall, Primal Chaos Hall, Spiritual Cultivation Hall, Golden Dragon Hall, and over a hundred other such halls. When the Emperor met with his royal advisors and ministers he would do it in these halls.

But at the back of the Imperial Palace was the harem. This harem had over 3000 occupants. Every concubine was beautiful, graceful, and incomparably enchanting.

In the world of martial artists, a martial artist would found their own influence to create their own sect and become the sovereign. As for those martial artists like the Marvel Blue Emperor who chose to found their own country, construct their own Imperial Palace and make themselves an Emperor, that was somewhat rarer.

In the Imperial Palace there were at least 18,000 imperial guards, 20,000 palace maids, and 10,000 court eunuchs. When Eunuch Liang said there were 1200 eunuchs, he had been referring to those who had the qualifications to cultivate the Sunflower Melody. These eunuchs were supervisors and leaders of the other eunuchs.

As Lin Ming walked forwards he saw many of these chief eunuchs. They were at the Divine Transformation or Divine Lord realms, with some even at the Holy Lord realm. Those at the Holy Lord realm wore different clothing. They wore yellow robes, indicating a higher status of court eunuch.

Lin Ming rubbed his chin as he saw this. In the Imperial Palace, just the military force of the eunuchs was considerably terrifying. He wouldn’t be surprised if the head chief eunuch was a World King powerhouse.

As they followed Eunuch Liang they were stopped at several more checkpoints. At each checkpoint, Eunuch Liang would take out different tokens. As they passed through an arched door, Lin Ming smelled the intoxicating scent of perfume and the clear atmosphere of women. This left him startled. This was clearly… the Marvel Blue Imperial Palace Harem!

Looking at the various palaces here and the many carvings of phoenixes, the architectural style here was much simpler and more composed. The paths were lined with red carpets and groups of charming maids carried lanterns and trays of fruits and they shuttled back and forth throughout.

“Harem…”

A strange color came over Lin Ming’s face. According to common reasoning, the harem was a restricted area. Besides eunuchs, no other men were allowed entry. Did these usual rules not exist in Marvel Blue Imperial Palace?

As Lin Ming was thinking, Eunuch Liang brought Lin Ming to an elegantly modeled courtyard. The palace in this courtyard was carved from jade and the gardens were planted with lush plants. There were all sorts of heavenly treasures and exotic flowers planted in the garden.

Above the entrance to this courtyard was a large plaque – Full Moon Hall.

These three words were written in a flowing and beautiful script; they clearly came from the hands of a woman.

Lin Ming followed Eunuch Liang into Full Moon Hall. As soon as they entered the rooms he was able to smell the faint scent of light powder. In Full Moon Hall, even within the guest rooms, everywhere was filled with fine red silk, screens of peacock feathers, and velvet carpets. This could be called an opulent aesthetic that was pleasing to the eyes.

In this hall, above a large expanse of red silk, there was a woman in a red skirt, dancing barefoot.

This woman’s red skirt seemed connected to the silk beneath her, making the entire hall look as if it were lit on fire. Her skin was pure white, like the most perfect jade, and her smooth hands were as fine as orchids. When joined with her slender arms, her movements were gentle and glamorous.

The woman’s legs were wrapped in a long gauzy skirt but one could still make out her perfect curves beneath the slinking fabric. Although she wore a long red skirt, she actually wore the common clothing of the Marvel Blue Nation. She wore a tight-fitting top that revealed her waist and stomach, and as she waved about she undulated like a snake, flexible and fascinating.

This woman’s charms were extreme to the limit. However, her face was covered by a veil so it was impossible to see her facial features.

After this woman danced for a quarter hour she finally stopped. She wrapped herself in a heavy shawl and sat down in the honored seat. Eunuch Liang bowed to her and said, “This old servant greets Imperial Concubine Moon.”

Lin Ming was stunned upon hearing this – Imperial Concubine Moon?

“This shouldn’t be…”

A bizarre thought appeared in Lin Ming’s mind, one that he found hard to react to for some time. But as he joined this together with where he was and what he had seen and heard, this was the most reasonable conclusion.

Without needing Lin Ming to say anything, Imperial Concubine Moon spoke up. She turned to Lin Ming and said, “You have come to me to seek out a cultivation method manual?”

“Yes.”

Lin Ming was darkly shocked. Blood Moon, one of the leaders of the Heaven’s Net assassin organization was actually Imperial Concubine Moon of the Marvel Blue Imperial Palace. Just what was going on here?

Imperial Concubine Moon, Blood Moon, Full Moon Hall…

These three terms all shared the ‘moon’ word. For Imperial Concubine Moon to be Blood Moon was the best explanation.

Then, could it be that the chief leader of Heaven’s Net was the Marvel Blue Emperor?

Lin Ming immediately shot down this thought as soon as it appeared.

Marvel Blue Nation had bountiful resources and considerable national military strength; it simply wasn’t worth it for the emperor to work as the chief leader of an assassin organization in his spare time. In an assassin organization, the core figures would always hide their identities in order to avoid being targeted by others who wanted to retaliate against them.

For an influence like the Marvel Blue Nation, the gains simply weren’t worth the losses. This was because it was possible that their identity could be uncovered by others if there were enough clues and traces. If their real identity was exposed and multiple enemies targeted them then the entire nation could be wiped out overnight!

If Heaven’s Net didn’t have some close relationship with the Marvel Blue Nation then there could only be one explanation as to why Blood Moon was here. That was that her status as Imperial Concubine Moon was only one of her identities and her true status was hidden.

But if this was true, there were even more questions.

Blood Moon was clearly extremely secretive about her identity as Imperial Concubine Moon, so why would she expose herself and let Lin Ming know who she was?

Of course, even though Blood Moon revealed her identity, she still wore a veil, making it so that one couldn’t see her face.

In fact, even her cultivation was hidden. Lin Ming simply wasn’t able to see through it.

This was something common for a leader of an assassin organization.

As all these thoughts flashed through Lin Ming’s mind, Imperial Concubine Moon seemed to know what he was thinking. But, she didn’t explain, instead smiling and saying, “Which cultivation method of mine did you want?”

Lin Ming awoke from his thoughts. He composed himself and honestly said, “The Celestial Tyrant Manual’s Nine Stars of the Dao Palace section!”

As soon as Lin Ming spoke, Imperial Concubine Moon’s complexion changed. “Celestial Tyrant Manual!?”

“Yes.” Lin Ming nodded. Although he was curious about Blood Moon’s identity, he didn’t ask her. It was impossible for her to answer him nor did he expect her to.

“You know I possess the Celestial Tyrant Manual?” Imperial Concubine Moon’s eyes narrowed, as if she wanted to see through Lin Ming. Lin Ming calmly looked back at her. After an incense stick of time, she suddenly nodded and said, “That’s right, there were some other people that knew… I never thought that you would be able to find out, but you must have asked Heaven’s Secret. Heaven’s Secret…”

A cold light flashed in Imperial Concubine Moon’s eyes. No one liked having their own information being traded around by others. In a way, the intelligence organization Heaven’s Secret and the assassin organization Heaven’s Net were the same. Both of them were extremely unlikable to certain people and it was easy for them to offend others.

“Celestial Tyrant Manual… so you actually dual cultivate body and energy. You have opened the complete Eight Inner Hidden Gates and have even managed to peer into the Nine Stars of the Dao Palace. That is quite… incredible!”

Imperial Concubine Moon whispered, her eyes still locked onto Lin Ming. But, Lin Ming remained composed throughout. Although Imperial Concubine Moon had covered her appearance with a veil and even her inner world was covered with a fog so that he couldn’t see into her, Lin Ming could still faintly feel that she was a human.

As a human martial artist, she would have a thorough understanding of how difficult the Nine Stars of the Dao Palace was.

“If you want the Celestial Tyrant Manual’s Nine Stars of the Dao Palace section, that is possible. But, you need to put forth sufficient conditions!”

Imperial Concubine Moon spoke straight to the point. The reason she was willing to see Lin Ming was because she valued something that he could offer her.

“If it is within reason, then please say it Imperial Concubine Moon!”

Lin Ming certainly didn’t think that Imperial Concubine Moon would give him the Celestial Tyrant Manual for nothing. That was a transcendent divine might! If he wished to obtain it then he would have to pay a high enough price.

Now, it would depend on what Imperial Concubine Moon wanted from him.